The world of cinema in 2014 is blessed with a host of performances by female actors at the top of their game. From zany sci-fi to lamentations on aging, the performances on these list will follow the viewer long after she leaves the theater.

As cinema went completely commercial, abandoning art for artifice, true aesthetic acumen was hard to come by. Luckily, for the movies included herein, it was their difference, as well as their diversity, that helped them stand out from the rest of the high concept hackwork.

The serious Science Fiction film genre is dead or at least on cinematic life support. As the new millennial marches forward, and an omnipresent production paradigm that substitutes spectacle for smarts, futurist filmmaking is definitely gasping for breath.

Brazil is wonderfully, unavoidably Gilliamesque not just because of its superficial tropes, but because of its mad, personal too-muchness. A simpler Brazil would be easier to watch, but it wouldn't be Terry Gilliam.